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THE 



WHITE MOUNTAINS 



OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 



In the Heart of the 
Nation's Playground 



ISSUED BY THE 

GENERAL PASSENGER DEPARTMENT 
BOSTON & MAINE RAILROAD 

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 




©CI.A265191 




TO PLAY golf up amid the clouds; to enjoy a New Eng- 
land summer sunset from a point more than a mile 
above one's office in the distant metropolis; to leave the 
heat-swathed city and in a few hours find one's self in clear, 
crisp air 1,600 feet above the sea — these are but a few of the 
unique experiences that come to those who select the White 
Mountains of New Hampshire for their vacation place. 

Someone has said of this wonderfully fascinating region 
that it is the greatest country east of the Mississippi River for 
the strengthening and upbuilding of the human constitution ; 
and this is literally true. 

In this respect, and in point of scenic beauty, it has no rival 
in eastern America. The White Mountains are the Alps of 
New England, with all of the outdoor pastimes and joys that 
the term implies, and with much of the rugged grandeur as well. 

And twenty-five millions of Americans may reach them 
within twenty-hours' journey of their homes, if they will. 




THE VIEW OF CRAWFORD NOTCH IS I N SIM! 



This is a country that lifts the tired mortal out of all con- 
tact with the cares and worries and drudgeries that may have 
been left behind on the hot and seething plain below — the 
breezy, germ-free, wide-spaced, sky-communing land of summer 
delight that soothes and heals and builds up tissue and brain-cell 
— and satisfies. 

And after all, it is satisfaction, in vacation as in life itself, 
that is the chief desire of humanity. 

If this booklet were being written twenty-five or fifty years 
ago, it would, in all probability, deal almost wholly with the 
scenic attributes of the White Mountain region — the phase 
that Thomas Starr King and Samuel Adams Drake and the 
long line of other illustrious word-painters loved to write about. 

In those days there was not much else to write about; but 
to-day it is different, for life has come to the New England 
Highlands — life that fills their echoing valleys with the laugh- 
ter of the strong-lunged and care-free; that effervesces on golf- 



course and tennis-court and baseball field; that scintillates in 
gorgeously illuminated lobby and ballroom; that sprawls along 
interminable miles of range-encircling trails, and makes its 
presence felt in a score of thriving "centers" whose existence 
was as little foreseen by old Abel Crawford and the ill-fated 
Willey family as was the coming of the first airship. 

These brief pages are likely to have more to say concern- 
ing what their summer visitors do than what they see from 
lofty mountain top or sunken floor of notch or ravine. Un- 
changeable is the scenery of the Mountains, but the human 
equation changes ever. 

Filling the northern corner of the picturesque "Granite 
State" with their four-hundred-and-odd square miles of cloud- 
saluting peaks, this wonderful group of the Appalachian sys- 
tem challenges the attention of America's ninety millions from 
the geographical, the scenic and the social point of view. That 
the region was given its conformation and placed there by the 




*' ■■ 



i 



*r#* 



*■' 



ONE SEES THE GOLF SMILE EVERYWHERE 




Great Architect as a place of refuge for the wearied hosts who 
were by and by to people the busy cities and towns of America 
is a conclusion difficult to escape from. Certainly it is Nature's 
own sanatorium, where even the modern hay-fever victim may 
count on finding sure relief. 

Mountains with their intervening valleys and basins are 
to be counted by the score. There are at least twenty-five with 
an altitude of more than 2,500 feet, and fifteen whose height 
above sea-level exceeds 4,000 feet. The king of this royal 
company, famous Mt. Washington, rears itself to an altitude 
of 6,290 feet, with all the stately grandeur of the illustrious 
American for whom it was named. It is upon its lofty sum- 
mit that the ridge-pole of eastern America is found; and to 
stand there and gaze around the hundred-mile radius of pros- 
pect is to make one feel as though he were on the roof of the 
world with the stars for his nearest neighbor. 

And, best of all, these Mountains and their attractive foot- 
hills are clothed with something like 2^000,000 acres of for- 
ests, hiding many of the loveliest waterfalls, most picturesque 
streams and most remarkable geological freaks to be found in 
the open pages of Nature's book. 

Through these sinuous valleys and notches wind miles and 
miles of the finest highways to be found on the continent, offer- 
ing rare inducements to those who enjoy motoring, driving or 
bicycling, and athwart the precipitous slopes of the Mountains 
themselves and along their connecting ridges run ribbon-like 
trails that spell joys and adventures well-nigh intoxicating to 
those who love to "tramp" the glorious hills in khaki suit and 




mount Washington's summit and the lakes of the clouds 








THE SUN DISSIPATES THE SEA OF CLOUDS 








with pack on shoulders, their evening couch perchance a hand- 
ful of fir boughs and their canopy a cotton shelter tent, or 
perhaps the open sky itself. 

It is a sort of grown-up fairyland, this White Mountain 
region, each turn of a road or path, or each achievement of a 
summit revealing some new and wonderful spectacle or ex- 
perience. The stimulating, sustaining mountain ozone, tinc- 
tured with the largest of the balsam growths, the wonderful 
clarity of the atmosphere, the surpassing glory of the sunsets 
and sunrises, the wraith-like effects of fog and cloud on moun- 
tain top and in valley, the weird and enchanting moonlight pic- 
tures, and the harmonious, enlivening and wholesome social 
life of the hotels and summer colonies together form such a 
magnetic combination that one learns without surprise that 
there are regular visitors to the Mountains who have been 
spending their summers there continuously for thirty and forty 
years. 

In the White Mountains to-day every highway, be it of 
steel or earth, leads, directly or indirectly, toward Mt. Wash- 
ington. This is the Mt. Blanc of the New England Switzer- 
land, the "hub" of the vacation system. It is entirely fitting to 
enter upon a brief consideration of the White Mountains and 
their summer joys by utilizing Mt. Washington as the starting- 
point, for if one does not start from there, he is sure to 
eventually reach there. 

It is because of this fact that Mt. Washington is the axis 
of the Mountains that Bretton Woods has come into existence 
as the chief resort of wealth and fashion in the region. It is 




MOUNT LAFAYETTE AND FRANCONIA NOTCH 




■1 



■HIHHHHHMHBBHHi 




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A St?- 




A PROMISING SEND-OFF 






TROUT? JUST DROP THEM A LINE 




I 




THE MAGNIFICENT PRESIDENTIAL RANGE 



to the White Mountains what Bar Harbor is to Maine or St. 
Augustine to Florida. Hither come the multimillionaires, the 
ambassadors from foreign countries with their suites, the liter- 
ary lions of America, the big Wall Street kings of finance, the 
captains of industry from Pittsburg, the beef barons from Chi- 
cago, and the most beautifully gowned women from all sec- 
tions of America and Europe. 

When the great million-and-a-half-dollar palace hotel at 
Bretton Woods, the "Mount Washington," is aglow at night 
with its 5,000 incandescent lamps, there is an indoor scene com- 
parable in brilliancy with a reception to the diplomatic corps at 
the White House or a levee at the Court of St. James. The 
"Mount Washington" is pioneer of a succession of other vaca- 
tion-season palaces whose walls are by and by to uprear them- 
selves in the Mountains, for the White Mountain fever that 
has possessed our middle classes for a generation or more has 
seized upon the plutocrats and the word has gone forth that 




the White Mountain country is the finest place on the foot- 
stool for summer rest and recuperation. 

But Bretton Woods, with its dress parade of millionaires, 
its enchanting scenery, its 1,600 feet of altitude, its wonderful 
golf-course and its prismatic social life, has by no means "a 
monopoly" in the Mountains. It is merely a symptom. 

There are other places — many of them — where one can 
enjoy just as good a time, according to one's taste or means — 
resorts like Bethlehem, the social center of the millions, rather 
than of the millionaires; Jefferson, Littleton, North Wood- 
stock, Profile House, Crawfords, Franconia, Sugar Hill, 
Fabyan, Randolph, Gorham, North Conway, Intervale, Maple- 
wood, Bethlehem, Jackson, Whitefield, Dixville Notch, and 
others to be mentioned later. Each of these places has its own 
local attractions and associations, and to a large extent its own 
clientele. The same magnificent air, the same superb scenery, 
the identical outdoor activities are shared by each and all of 
these resorts, and in effect they are units of one big and ever- 
growing vacation family, indulging in friendly rivalries on 
the baseball diamond or tennis-court and exchanging social 
visits when the spirit moves. And the spirit moves with oft- 
recurring regularity in these days, for in the White Mountains 
everybody, figuratively, wears a button labeled "Out for a 
Good Time." 

The summer vacation season in the Mountains (there 
is nowadays, by the way, a winter vacation season there, too) 
begins about the last week in June, although some of the larger 
houses do not open until somewhat later. At Bethlehem, 




THE RUGGED GATEWAY OF CRAWFORD NOTCH 



Maplewood, Jefferson, Profile House, Bretton Woods, Craw- 
ford House, Fabyan, Twin Mountain House, North Wood- 
stock, North Conway, Jackson, Dixville Notch and elsewhere 
some of the leading hotels at least are ready to receive guests 
on or about July first, and of late years the custom of spending 
the Fourth of July in the Mountains has been followed by 
many. 

No more effective and sensible method of escaping the 
noise and heat of the Glorious Fourth could possibly be 
adopted. The quick transition from city clamor to Mountain 
quietude is almost miraculous. Not that the Mountains are 
entirely lacking in patriotism, for in certain corners of them 
they do celebrate the nation's Independence Day in a mild and 
subdued sort of way. At Littleton, for instance, one can 
enjoy horse-races, baseball and marathon runs; and at Bretton 
Woods it is deemed a religious duty to ignite a big bonfire 
on the "Mount Washington" lawn and touch off a few pyro- 





THE VISTA AT INTERVALE IS WIDE AND BEAUTIFUL 




GOOD GOLFING TWO THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE SEA 



I 




PASSING SHADOWS 



technics. On the whole, however, it is the personification of a 
"sane" Fourth. 

Shortly after Independence Day the regular summer 
visitors begin to put in an appearance at the various Mountain 
resorts by ones and two and family groups. Panting locomo- 
tives draw them in long trainloads up through the wonderful 
fifteen-mile Crawford Notch; big delegations of them drop 
off the trains at North Woodstock, and hundreds swing round 
the southwestern frontier of the Mountains and disembark at 
Bethlehem, Maplewood, Jefferson or whatever point on the 
"West Side" they are booked for. 

By the first of August the hotels begin to take on the ap- 
pearance of a London 'bus on a bank holiday, and throughout 
this ideal month the summer life is at crescendo. The younger 
members of the big summer colony are in an hourly whirl of 
delicious excitement, golfing, driving, fishing, motoring, dis- 
porting in swimming-pools, playing baseball, tennis or squash, 




rowing, sailing (for you can row and sail in some parts of the 
Mountains), enjoying picnics and hay rides, "camping out," 
photographing, sketching, playing croquet, billiards or bridge, 
enjoying concerts or theatricals — in short, having a good time, 
as only those who summer in the White Mountains can enjoy 
one. For their elders, there are plenty of less exacting recrea- 
tions, and failing all else, there is always the inspiring and 
satisfying scenery to enjoy — for the White Mountain scenery 
is genial and soothing, and lacks the austerity that marks 
some of the mountain scenery of the far West. 

Life goes on pretty much like this until the middle of 
September, for the "season," once ending with August, has a 
tendency to lengthen a little every year, so loath are the lovers 
of the Mountains to leave their splendid sanatorium. 

In considering the varied list of outdoor pastimes in this 
altitudinous sanatorium of the millions, it is rather difficult to 
decide as to which of these excels in popular favor. It will, 
however, be entirely safe to place the royal game of golf pretty 
near the head of the list, for in no part of the country are the 
facilities for indulging in this popular sport more extensive 
than in the White Mountains. Some of the finest courses in 
America are to be found here, and, needless to say, some of the 
most celebrated players in the world have followed the elusive 
ball over their velvety acres. 

There are at least a score of such courses in various parts 
of the W T hite Mountains territory, of which four are eighteen- 
hole courses — those at Bretton Woods, Maplewood, Profile 
House and Waumbek House, Jefferson. There are nine-hole 
courses at Jackson, Intervale, North Conway, Fabyan, Twin 
Mountain House, Bethlehem, Sunset Hill House, Sugar Hill, 
Colebrook, Whitefield, Forest Hill, Franconia and Breezy 
Point, Moosilauke; and six-hole courses at Crawford House, 
and Hotel Look-Off, Sugar Hill. 

Some of these are maintained by the hotels that are the 
chief factor in the summer life of the place, while others are 
under the control of local clubs, as in the case of Bethlehem 
and Jefferson. Each course, naturally, has its own charac- 




THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS STERNLY GUAEDS HIS VAST 




teristics, and In combination they form an infinite variety of 
physical surroundings, hazards and other features. In point 
of sheer picturesqueness, there are few golf-links in the United 
States that are to be compared with those at Maplewood; 
while the Bretton Woods course, from its peculiar situation in 
the great mountain-walled basin that forms the resort, is en- 
tirely unique. 

The Bretton Woods course is distinctive in one other 
respect also, and that is in the number and discipline of its 
"caddies." These are a battalion of some sixty bright boys an- 
nually brought up from a Boston "settlement," carefully trained 
and drilled for the work and handled by their instructors in all 
their various comings and goings on semi-military principles. 

As a rule, the various professional and amateur tourna- 
ments at Bretton Woods, Maplewood, Jefferson and the other 
more important resorts are among the most spectacular outdoor 
events of the season in the Mountains, drawing together bril- 
liant assemblages of society people and some of the most 
prominent "talent" in the country. One or two of the Moun- 
tain golf clubs are made up exclusively of a few of the more 
prominent society people summering in the region, and their 
weekly teas are among the swell functions of the social calendar. 

It is by no means an uncommon event for more than one 
hundred golfers to play over the Bretton Woods course in a 
single day. 

While baseball is a perennially attractive pastime all over 
the Mountain region, tennis is an outdoor sport that has an 
ineradicable hold there. There are a number of excellent 




THE FLUME IS ONE OF NATURE'S oldest WORKS 



courts, but none of them is more enchantingly located, nor 
more famous throughout the country than that at Crawford 
House, at the very gateway of the marvelous Crawford Notch. 

At the annual tennis tournament here, players and devotees 
of the game flock from every large hotel in the Mountains, and 
the picture presented by players and fashionably attired spec- 
tators on a fine August afternoon is a particularly brilliant one. 
There are frequently fifty or more entries, with some of the 
most expert players in the country in the lists. The result of 
these annual tournaments is always regarded as one of the most 
important bits of published athletic intelligence of the day. 

The friendly rivalry between leading hotels and "centers" 
in the Mountains, which serves to accentuate the interest of 
summer life therein, finds its chief "safety-valve" in baseball 
matches, however. Here, again, Bretton Woods takes a lead- 
ing part, but practically every other center in the Mountains 
has its local team of no mean caliber, and exciting, indeed, are 




TENNIS IS A VIGOROUS RIVAL OF GOLF IN MANY PLACES 



— 




ONE LESS THAN THE BOGEY 



some of the contests that take place between them. From the 
beginning the national game has always been popular in the 
White Mountains, and from the Glorious Fourth until the last 
carload of summer visitors has departed, the players and 
"fans" are in daily action all over the region. 

For fear that golf, tennis and baseball may not be suffi- 
ciently strong a trinity to satisfy the summer populace, regu- 
lar athletic "meets," with formidable programs and accom- 
panying band concerts, are frequently held at one or more of 
the "centers." In this way the distinguished athletes of Bret- 
ton Woods, Profile, Maplewood, Crawford's and other points 
get together and measure speed and strength in ioo-yard 
dashes, mile runs, jumping, throwing and other feats, the 
winners receiving special medals or other suitable rewards. 

In tennis, golf and some of the other conventional pas- 
times, women, of course, participate extensively; and those who 
do not golf or wield the racket are apt to be devotees of horse- 









L_ 




THE PRESIDENTIAL RANGE IS MAGNIFICENT FROM ALL POINTS 





ONE CAN ALSO BOAT AND CANOE UP NEAR THE CLOUDS 



Li: 





ROCKY FORD 



back riding, one of the most popular and delightful exercises 
possible in the Mountains. 

For those who do not bring their own mounts, as many 
do, there are splendid liveries at all of the leading centers and, 
in addition, riding-masters and instructors of national renown. 
The entire White Mountain country, with its magnificent high- 
ways and its fine bridle-paths, offers exceptional opportunities 
for riding under the most delightful auspices of climate and 
scenery, and no more body-building and muscle-hardening pas- 
time can be indulged in. 

At some of the resorts there are also bowling-greens main- 
tained, where this fine old sport may be enjoyed by its lovers; 
and clock golf is also on the list. At Bretton Woods even 
water sports are possible, and are frequently held, the great 
swimming-pool at the "Mount Washington" making this 
feasible, as well as furnishing the visiting vacationists a most 
excellent substitute for a morning or afternoon dip in the 







"briny." Dashes, under-water races, diving and even tub 
races are held, the Bretton Woods caddies having an excellent 
opportunity to display their natatorial talents here. 

Driving, of course, is one of the perennially popular pas- 
times throughout the White Mountains; and these vehicular 
expeditions are sometimes combined with delightful outings 
of several days' duration such as have become popularized in 
California and Colorado. It is no uncommon thing for a large 
party of congenial spirits to fare forth in tally-hos or Moun- 
tain wagons from one of the big hotels, accompanied by chef 
and chaperone, and be gone the greater part of a week, visiting 
almost all of the important centers of interest in the Moun- 
tains, reveling in the wonderful scenery and bracing air, and 
"camping out" at night in true gypsy style, if the weather is 
propitious. Smaller parties sometimes enjoy the same nomadic 
experiences in motor-cars, for the hotels have up-to-date gar- 
ages as well as liveries. 







■mnhhhhhhhhhhk: _ 

Then there is the combined carriage and railroad one- 
day trip, which enables the sojourner at almost any of the score 
or more of White Mountain resorts to visit the aerial summit 
of Mt. Washington, explore the wonders of Crawford Notch, 
or gaze with awe upon the stern features of the Old Man of 
the Mountains, returning home in time for dinner — that all- 
important factor in vacation life in the Mountains and else- 
where. 

Broadly speaking, one may nowadays, through the aid 
of the railroads — standard-gauge, narrow-gauge and cog — get 
from anywhere to anywhere else in the Mountains and back 
again in a period but a little longer than that usually devoted 
to a day's business in office or bank. One can more easily climb 
a mountain than was the case a quarter of a century ago, for 
the way has been made easier and safer through the good 
offices of the modern trail-builder. This same trail-builder 
has conferred a greater boon to humanity than has the trust- 
buster. 

Nor does the foregoing by any means exhaust the list of 
possibilities in the line of outdoor pastimes in the Mountains. 
Rather it is only a beginning. Think what wonderful worlds 
there are awaiting the conquering approach of the tramper. 
Weston in his pedestrian journeys across the continent did 
not quaff of half the joys that await the outdoor explorer in 
the White Mountains. There is no Mountain summit, notch, 
ravine, valley, lake, stream, ice cave, ridge, gulf, overlook, 
precipice, waterfall, village, lumber camp or hermit's hut that 
the tramper cannot reach or explore. Lost rivers are lost no 
more when he takes the trail; and even winter, with its five 
or six feet of snow and its temperature of 25 degrees below 
zero, has no terrors for him, for he simply dons his snow- 
shoes, like the Crawfords of old and the Indians before them, 
and even the ice-bound crown of Mt. Washington itself is his, 
if he so wills. 

Men and women, boys and girls, alike in these days tramp 
the Mountains for days and miles with the perseverance of 
Iroquois and the nonchalance of gypsies, getting from their 



J] 



glorious experience a hardening of flesh, a brightness of eye 
and a bronzing of skin that might well have been the heri- 
tage of the Western pioneers. Sleeping beneath a cotton tent, 
or under the friendly roof of the Appalachian Mountain 
Club hut on Mt. Madison, they soon learn that "the joy of 
living" is something more than a mere printed phrase. It is 
the essence of summer vacation enjoyment and experience in 
the White Mountains, and neither golf nor tennis can take 
its place. 

Walking parties, small, large and medium-sized, as well 
as individual trampers, are always to be encountered wherever 
one finds one's self in the Mountains; and not infrequently the 
visitor descending Mt. Washington by the carriage-road meets 
a bevy of red-cheeked, bright-eyed maidens attired in bloomers, 
from some girls' camp, perhaps forty or fifty miles' distant; 
or while the tourist is quietly enjoying the wonderful view from 
the summit of that lofty eminence, suddenly an imposing com- 
pany of brown-clad youths will disturb his meditations by 
emerging from the Crawford trail and descending, half- 
famished, upon the Tip-Top House restaurant, like Boer 
soldiers attacking a Transvaal kopje. 

From Bretton Woods and its vicinage, from Jefferson, 
Randolph, Gorham, Jackson, North Conway, Maplewood, 
Bethlehem, North Woodstock and the rest of the Mountain 
"centers" glorious trail trips through valley and over summit 
radiate in every direction, some of them leading in a few 
minutes to prospects that the Rockies themselves need not be 
ashamed of. 

from North Woodstock, one may easily and quickly 
explore some of the most interesting portions of the Pemige- 
wasset and Franconia Notch region, including the famous 
Flume. North Conway and Intervale offer "tramping" oppor- 
tunities innumerable among the lower members of the Moun- 
tain colony, including Moat Mountain and Mt. Kearsarge and 
several of the picturesque cascades and basins of the vicinity. 

From Jackson and the Crawford House, one may nego- 
tiate the Crawford and Pinkham Notches, with their rugged 




and beautiful scenery and climb to some of the magnificent over- 
looks that have been placed there, balcony-like, by a prodigal 
Creator for the benefit of the twentieth-century tourist. 

Bretton Woods offers a wide variety of both long and 
short excursions afoot, including such well-known places as 
Mt. Echo, Mt. Stickney, Mt. Pleasant, Mt. Willard, Mt. 
Webster, Mt. Deception, Ammonoosuc Falls, the Lake Among 
the Clouds and the various peaks of the Presidential Range, 
including Mt. Washington itself. 

From Profile House, with its score of cosy cottages, the 
tourist may "sally forth" to Echo Lake, Mt. Cannon, Mt. 
Lafayette, the Pool, the Flume and various other popular 
objective points of the summer visitor, invariably finding ex- 
cellent roads and trails. 

Bethlehem and Maplewood, places of magnificent dis- 
tances and smiling landscape, have breezy Mt. Agassiz, topped 
by an aerial observation tower, from which the visitor may 
look out upon a scene of grandeur and enchantment, taking 
in large portions of northern New Hampshire, of Vermont, 
and even of parts of Canada. 

The habitues of Jefferson have always in their mind's eye 
a jaunt to Cherry Mountain, to the summit of Mt. Madison, 
or to the tip-top of Mt. Washington itself; and so at Gorham, 
Randolph, Whitefield, Dixville Notch, Holderness, Plymouth, 
Sugar Hill and all the rest of the illustrious White Mountain 
list there is a variety of these always-enjoyable expeditions 
afoot to be enjoyed, their extent being limited only by condi- 
tions of physique or weather or time. 




CRAWFORD HOUSE, THE PRESIDENTIAL RANGE BEYOND 



Different devotees of mountain climbing have their differ- 
ent ways of doing it. Some make it a rule to start before 
sunrise on their day's expedition; others prefer to delay till the 
cool of the afternoon. 

To mention but one of many enjoyable walking jaunts, 
it is possible for a congenial party to leave Bretton Woods 
at 6 o'clock in the morning, ride to the base of Mt. Pleasant, 
and then begin their "climb to the clouds." After reaching 
the summit of Mt. Washington over the fine trail, the crest of 
Mt. Jefferson may be negotiated by the Gulfside trail, the 
return being made by the Westside trail to Mt. Pleasant, 
thence down by the Franklin path, a total distance of about 
twenty-five miles. 

A record-breaking trip, covering every peak of the Presi- 
dential Range, was recently made by a party of college men, 
who tramped from Randolph to the Crawford House in a little 
more than seven hours, starting shortly before 8 in the morn- 




ABOVE AGASSIZ BASH 



■ 



I 




LOOKING DOWN CRAWFORD NOTCH FROM MOUNT WILLARD 

ing and reaching their destination about 3.15 in the afternoon. 
The summits of Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Clay, Washing- 
ton, Monroe, Franklin, Pleasant and Clinton were crossed 
and a stop of about half an hour was made at the Tip-Top 
House on the summit of Mt. Washington, where, with the 
blue Atlantic on one side of them and the Dominion of Canada 
on the other, they enjoyed lunch with the zest that is known 
only to mountain-climbers and sailors. 

When all other forms of outdoor enjoyment are ex- 
hausted (if such a thing could be possible in the Mountains), 
there still remains the historic pastime of fishing. The Saco 
and the Ammonoosuc and the numerous streamlets that enter 
them, not to mention the Pemigewasset, abound in brook 
trout, and afford hours, and even days, of royal sport. There 
are many summer sojourners here who find their chief recrea- 
tion in whipping the trout brooks of the Mountain region, and 
seldom are they obliged to return home with empty creels. 



_J 




_is 



LANDSCAPES TO DELIGHT THE ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER 



Needless to say, the White Mountains are literally a para- 
dise for the wielders of brush and pencil as well as for the 
devotees of art photography. Their wonderful conformation, 
their marvelous atmosphere, their gorgeous sunrise and sunset 
effects and their dramatic pageantries of cloud and mist make 
them a very wonderland of picturesqueness. As the great 
artists of the West like to go to the Yosemite Valley for the 
pursuit of their ideals, so do the artists of the East, both great 
and small, delight to spend their summer holidays amid the 
ravines and valleys or atop of the breezy summits of the White 
Mountains. 

The region has been well described as "Nature's mam- 
moth museum." Of their many natural wonders, it is neces- 
sary here to refer to only a few. There is the wonderful 
Flume, in Franconia Notch, a great cleft in the Mountain 900 
feet long and 60 to 70 feet high; its neighboring Pool and 
Basin, remarkable depressions filled with crystal water and 
with most romantic surroundings; the world-famous "Old Man 
of the Mountains," stern and immovable sentinel of this entire 
region; White Horse Ledge, near North Conway and Inter- 
vale, so called on account of its fancied resemblance to a dashing 
steed; Lost River, at North Woodstock, and the remarkable 
Lakes of the Clouds, situated in a depression between Mt. 
Washington and Mt. Monroe, 5,000 feet above the sea. 

One of the greatest and most awe-inspiring of Nature's 
wonders here is the Crawford Notch, up whose steep grades 
and between whose beetling cliffs the laboring train brings 
throngs of marveling tourists every day in summer. The 
Notch, named after one of the noted pioneer families of the 
region, is about 15 miles long and its western portal is 1,890 
feet above the level of the ocean. In the 30 miles between 
North Conway and Crawfords 1,369 feet of this elevation 
occurs, there being a rise of 116 feet to the mile for nine con- 
secutive miles in its steepest portion. 

To properly sense the picturesqueness and the immensity 
of this strange defile, the tourist must see it from a carriage or 
observation-car, or from the verge of one of its gigantic cliff- 



walls. It cannot be adequately described under ordinary con- 
ditions; to attempt this when the cottony mists are sweeping 
through it in tortuous convolutions, or when the autumnal 
frosts have changed the green of its maples and birches to 
crimson and gold, is a task that the hardiest knight of the pen 
might well shrink from. 

There is a good deal about the Notch that recalls a sug- 
gestion of the Alps or the Canadian Rockies; and even these 
cannot afford the same superb view as that which dawns upon 
the beholder standing on the summit of Mt. Willard, nearly 
three thousand feet above the sea, and looking eastward down 
that marvelous valley. 

It was in the heart of the Crawford Notch that the mem- 
bers of the Willey family were destroyed by the historic land- 
slide many years ago. The site of this catastrophe is one of 
the landmarks of the region, and is visited by hundreds of 
tourists every year. The drive through the Notch is an obliga- 
tion amounting almost to an unwritten law on the part of vaca- 
tionists sojourning at Crawfords, Bretton Woods, Fabyan, 
Twin Mountain House, Jackson and the Intervale North Con- 
way region. No White Mountain experience is more de- 
lightful. 

After every one of the White Mountain "centers" was 
given its due in printed and illustrated page (which would be 
quite impracticable from the guide-book point of view), they 
would all, figuratively speaking, still have to take off their hats 
to grand old Mt. Washington. As in the ancient days when 
the White Mountains were first revealed to the eyes of white 
men, he continues to be monarch of all he surveys, and that is a 
good deal, geographically speaking. 

From the summit of Washington, the radius of view is 
much more than one hundred miles, taking in the ocean, the 
New Hampshire lake country, the Connecticut River Valley, 
the Rangeley Lake country and a goodly section of the Maine 
district, and reaching far into Vermont and Canada. This 
is one of the reasons why so many thousands of the world's 
people have been impelled to ascend to its breeze-swept sum- 




mit during the last half century or so, princes, presidents and 
potentates among them. 

Like the Mountains in general, Mt. Washington is not 
quite to be described ; it must be visited and studied on its own 
account. 

Every fine day in summer the famous cog-railway, with 
its pushing locomotives and inclining cars, is busy transporting 
visitors from all parts of the globe to the top of this famous 
mountain. 

The Mt. Washington Railway has been running since 
1869, and in all these years not a passenger has been killed or 
injured. From the Base Station, the distance covered by the 
cog-railway is about three miles, and the average grade is 
1,300 feet to the mile. At its greatest gradient it is nearly 
2,000 feet to the mile. Its famous trestle, or "J ac °rj's Lad- 
der," together with its peculiarly shaped locomotives, are 
familiar to millions of Americans who have never seen them, 
through the medium of printed illustrations and descriptions. 

Trains running over rails of standard gauge take the 
tourist from Fabyan and Bretton Woods to Base Station (both 
the Boston & Maine and Maine Central Railroads meeting at 
the former stations), and at the Base the passengers change 
to the cog-railway, which conveys them to the summit by a slow 
yet all too rapid journey. The ever-changing panorama spread 
out before the eye of the ascending tourist, the differentiations 
of air and flora, the stop at the brink of the awesome Gulf, 
and the final disembarkation at the summit of the great emi- 
nence, nearly a mile and a quarter above the sea, form a series 



A GLIMPSE OF GLORIOUS CHOCORUA 



of kaleidoscopic impressions that can never be effaced from the 
memory. The tourist has the privilege of ascending several 
high mountains in America, but none of these bring quite the 
satisfactory results of a climb to the summit of Mt. Wash- 
ington. 

Up here on the roof of New England the most dyspeptic 
tourist may enjoy a ravenous appetite, and this may always be 
satisfied in the cosy interior of the historic rip-lop House, 
erected away back in 1853 an d chained to the lichened rocks 
of the summit so that the fierce blasts of winter will not carry 
it away bodily. 

Pending the rebuilding of the famous Summit House, de- 
stroyed by fire some months ago, the Tip-Top House is doing 
duty as hotel and cafe, and paeans of praise are being sounded 
throughout the land in behalf of its delicious old-fashioned 
New England menus, on the part of those who have been priv- 
ileged to enjoy them. 



The scenic charms of Jefferson, Randolph, Gorham and 
the north side of the Mountains generally lose nothing of 
their impressiveness on closer acquaintance. Jefferson, with 
its growing Waumbek Colony, represents one of the highest 
types of the White Mountain vacation resort. It is a com- 
munity of cottages as well as of lively hotel life, and the 
younger element in the summer tourist population seems to be 
peculiarly well represented here. The Waumbek golf links, 
already mentioned, rank among the highest in the region and 
are annually the scene of many an interesting tournament, par- 
ticipated in by noted experts. 

Starr King Mountain, lifting its massive proportions here, 
is one of the features of the landscape; and Cherry Mountain 
is another of Jefferson's prized possessions. The summer 
social life here is everything that could be desired, and there is 
no form of outdoor or indoor amusement common to the 
Mountains generally that cannot be enjoyed here, including 




L'lM'KK CASCADES, FRANCONIA NOTCH 




THE CLUB HOUSE AND LINKS AT BETHLEHEM 



trap shooting. There is a splendid livery and the highways 
are ideal. 

Colebrook, situated about twenty-five miles southwest of 
the famous Connecticut lakes, source of the Connecticut River, 
is another popular tourist center that may properly be classed 
among the White Mountain resorts. Ten miles beyond it lies 
romantic Dixville Notch, with its spendid summer hotel, The 
Balsams, nestling at the side of lovely Lake Gloriette. Here is 
an ideal rest resort if ever there was one. 

The Dixville Mountains, in which is the romantic Notch 
of that name, are really a group apart from the White Moun- 
tains, and some forty miles distant from the Presidential Range. 
Dixville Notch is a sort of way-station on the popular carriage 
and motoring route between the White Mountains and the 
Rangeley Lakes country in Maine; and, therefore, has become 
pleasantly known to many summer visitors from all sections 
of the country. 




DRIVES THAT WIND BY RIVERS AND BROOKS 




I 



AND THE GOKGE OF ITS RIVAL, AMMONOOSUC 




Intended to suggest, rather than to describe, this brochure 
may not go much further into details of the White Mountains' 
glories than has been herein set forth. There has been much 
that has been left untold; but perhaps it is just as well to leave 
something to the reader's imagination — and personal dis- 
covery. Even the full sum of the vacation pleasures of the 
Mountains has not been set down here. If the life outdoors is 
wide and free, that indoors is gay and brilliant to a degree. 
The big hotels, as at Bretton Woods and Maplewood, Craw- 
ford's, Bethlehem, Profile and Jefferson, are simply overflow- 
ing with fascinating indoor social life. From week to week 
they present a never-ending succession of musicales, balls, 
bridge parties, lectures, theatricals, dinners, teas, receptions, 
charades, and this, that and the other form of social enjoyment 
so dear to the hearts of American men and women of leisure. 
To these are sometimes added delightful outdoor theatricals 
by professional Woodland players. Indeed, the habitues of 
the White Mountains may, and do, enjoy the whole gamut of 
our national social pleasures. 

It is gratifying to all who love outdoor life that the 
tendency to lengthen the period of vacation in the Mountains 
increases year by year, until now the season of autumnal foli- 
age and crisper atmosphere and clearer horizons finds a large 
and constantly growing contingent of vacationists still linger- 
ing at hotel and cottage, reluctant to close the chapter and 
return to their homes in the cities. 

It is well that they do, for it is then that the White Moun- 
tains fall under the spell of the Great Painter, and grim Mt. 




THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS Mil 




Washington looks through the amber September or October 
haze upon a far-reaching harlequinade of rainbow hues. 

There is nothing upon all this continent, or elsewhere, that 
can compare with the autumnal glory of the White Mountains. 
It can neither be described, nor painted, nor humanly staged. 
No matter from what point of vantage the autumnal foliage of 
the Mountains is viewed — whether from the summit of high 
mountain or the floor of valley — the spectacle is one that is 
grand beyond imagination. 

For many, the true vacation is just now commencing. 
While others have gone back from seashore, lake or moun- 
tain to again take up the tasks of business or household life, 
hundreds of those who love and understand the Mountains are 
on the way to their favorite haunts to spend the summer end 
in the most exhilarating and beneficial of outdoor pastimes — 
mountain-climbing, driving, golfing, fishing and shooting. 

There is no part of the White Mountains where one may 
not enjoy to the full the surpassing loveliness of the autumnal 
benediction, drenching the hill slopes with bright kalsomining 
of crimson and yellow and lighting up the deepest and darkest 
valleys and ravines with its blazonry. 

The Crawford, Franconia, Pinkham and Carter Notches 
lend themselves particularly well to this marvelous fall display 
of color and contrast — for vivid, indeed, is the contrast be- 
tween the brilliant colors of the maples and the somber green 
of the pines and firs. More amplified views of the chromatic 
carnival may be enjoyed from such places as Jefferson, Bretton 
Woods and Bethlehem, with their wider prospects. Fortunate 
is the visitor who can view the incomparable picture from each 
and all of these vantage points. Certainly, 

"There is a beautiful spirit breathing now, 
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees." 






Such are the White Mountains of New England- 
sort of thumb-nail sketch. 



in a 




GRAND CASCADE ABOVE THE FLUME 




DESIGNED, ENGRAVED AND EXECUTED B 
THE KALKHOFF COMPANY. NEW YORK 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
18 1 v 



Boston 
k "-° Maine 

Railroad 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 983 857 9 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 983 857 9 



